Hmm, to be honest I'm not exactly sure how long I was gone! So I'll just start with the apparent beginning of school, the dreaded Early Week of marching...
It was burning hot, even at the beginning time of 8 am, and it just got worse as the day progressed. Water or some other hydrater was necessary, and the Grand, as I have named my trumpet, was getting very heavy in my arms. But eventually it was all over, and I learned how to march just like everyone else in band. [img]smile.gif[/img]
The first day of school followed just over a week later. My schedule of Band, Hon Physical Science, Hon English, Geography, Lunch (
), Hon Alg II, Hon Government, and Grammar conflicts quite a bit due to distance. But I got tired of having to go to my locker constantly, and with the discovery of my bag's durable straps I no longer need to visit it.
There's an amazingly large blank spot here. It's nothing important, though, or I'd remember it. Or at least, not repress it [img]tongue.gif[/img] Mostly just going through my day, attempting to adapt to the new schedule, until...
Pryor, Oklahoma, 2002 Invitational Marching Contest. The band has a show entitled "Evening at the Symphony," and we play "Night on Bald Mountain" "Nimrod" "Farandole" and "Simple Gifts." On top of the extremely difficult music, we march a total of slightly less than sixty sets per show - some of the most in all of Oklahoma. In the prelims there's a bit of difficulty as the heat makes it difficult to breathe, and my good friend Marsha passes out right before we go on, but she recovers before we go on. Prelims go awesome. Come out 5 points ahead of Charles Page High School, who comment "Where's Sallisaw?" when we're announced. Finals... we've worked hard, and got some things down for Farandole that we needed. We win... by two ponts. Charles Page wins the three recognition awards (Best Drum Major, Best Drumline, Best Auxillary) but we prove to be the better team. Much celebrating ensues.
Almost forgot an important event here. The day before the next contest mentioned here, I went in for my written permet test. I score a 75 - just enough to pass!
I'm excited, but I really need to read up on the booklet. Passing is one thing, passing my driver's test and being safe on the road is entirely another.
Lessee, after Pryor we had Russellville... Not as many details as Pryor here, as we didn't do as good, but we got straight 1s. There was a sewage leak though, which definitely explains why we had so much difficulty playing with proficienty. The Grand was offended...
A week later, the Regional (read: Mandatory) Marching Contest at McAlester proved to be much better than Russellville, but not as good as the Pryor Finals. It was very hot though, and I had difficulty breathing. The uniforms didn't really help, as in practice I was never short of breath. Oh, well. Straight 1s again. We're awesome.
That was two weeks ago on Tuesday. We haven't done much since then, except read Flowers for Algernon in English. Also, I got my first report card at Parent/Teacher Confrence night. A total GPA of 4.4286 with (in order of the schedule given above) A, A1, A1, A, A2, A1, A. Yes, I rule too!
Anyways, good to finally be back after a struggle, and I know there are some things that I left out here, but I told enough as is... It's surely a long enough post! [img]tongue.gif[/img]